Campus & community, Campus news

UC dominates new U.S. News ranking of public universities

By Public Affairs

The University of California dominates the latest ranking of public universities from U.S. News and World Report , claiming six spots in the top 12 and seven in the top 30.

As usual, UCLA and UC Berkeley joust for position at the top of the list, in first and second place among public universities. This year, UCLA added four points to its score and moved to the top for the first time, and Berkeley, though it maintained its numerical score from last year, came in second. The University of Virginia was third, Michigan was fourth and UC Santa Barbara place fifth.

Other UC campuses in the top 12 are Irvine (7). Davis (10) and San Diego (12). UC Santa Cruz was 26th.

Overall, Berkeley ranked 22nd among national universities (tied with Georgetown and USC), and UCLA is 19th. The top national universities, according to U.S. News, are Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, MIT and the University of Chicago.

Berkeley’s business program rose to second place in the overall rankings for individual disciplines, up from third last year. And the engineering program ranked third, the same as last year.

For the 2019 rankings, U.S. News tweaked its methodology. For instance, new emphasis was placed on class size, with classes of under 20 students receiving the most credit. Two new indicators related to Pell grant graduation rates made up a new social mobility component.

The full rankings are posted on the U.S. News website.

Related information:

UC campuses rise to the top in new U.S. News and World Report rankings

Berkeley again shines as top public university, this time in Forbes rankings

Berkeley top public university in new ARWU rankings

Berkeley rated world’s top public and fourth-best overall by U.S. News